Duran finds the range twice
LASK arrived in Glasgow with a plan and kept it alive for half an hour. Samuel Adeniran fired narrowly wide early. Moses Usor worked a handful of openings. None of it counted.
Benjamin Nygren settled the night with the first of two beautifully struck efforts past Lukas Jungwirth. Camilo Duran then produced an almost identical volley, and later added his second. Celtic 3-0 LASK, first leg of the Champions League play-off, built on nothing more complicated than clean finishing.
Duran has now scored six goals in his last six Champions League fixtures, qualifying rounds included. That is the kind of run that turns a squad option into the name opponents build their week around.
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What a three-goal cushion actually buys
The tie moves to Linz next Wednesday, 25 August. LASK have to score at least three at home against a side that just punished loose marking twice in the same manner inside 20 minutes. Celtic can sit deeper without abandoning the ball, which is a luxury very few play-off teams get to enjoy.
This round is the last gate before the league phase. Seven places are on offer, the draw follows on 27 August, and the fall for whoever misses out lands in the Europa League, with a different calendar and a very different revenue line attached to it.
Celtic’s evening also stood apart from the rest of the round. All three of Tuesday’s first legs finished level: Levski Sofia 0-0 AEK Athens, GNK Dinamo 2-2 Viking, Fenerbahce 1-1 Lyon. Only Bodo/Glimt matched the Scottish side for authority, winning 3-1 at N.E.C. thanks to Sondre Brunstad Fet, an Andreas Helmersen penalty and a Haitam Aleesami header.
Austria still has to be played
LASK kept the scoreline goalless for a long stretch and created the better early chances, which will keep a flicker of belief alive at home. Their problem is arithmetic. Celtic needed very few sights of goal to put three past them, and Jungwirth was beaten twice by shots struck from almost the same spot.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva also took a lead into the return, edging Sabah 2-1 after Igor Zlatanovic headed in Eliel Peretz’s corner ten minutes from time. Slovan Bratislava and Celje could not be separated, drawing 1-1 in a tie that still looks wide open.
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